1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to addressing the need of promoting or improving bio-motoric performance in some human activities. More particularly, the present invention relates to addressing a possible subject""s need to improve the level of synergic cooperation between one or more of his/her body parts with visceral cyclical function, during the execution or realization of an activity. More specifically, from the many possible embodiments of the invention, the possible usefulness of some of these embodiments for the treatment of many human conditions including learning disabilities in general and dyslexia in particular could be explored.
2. Related Art
At present, the characterization of mental life is dictated by a machine metaphor where the brain is viewed by many as a sophisticated computer whose software is the mind. Cognitive psychology views the mind as a grand software which manipulates representations from the environment as symbols.
This xe2x80x9ccomputationalxe2x80x9d approach dominates today""s mainstream in understanding the brain-mind set. Under this approach, the rest of the body simply executes and follows the programs stored in the brain (hardware), which is functionally manipulated by the mind (software). Furthermore, movements and voluntary actions are understood as xe2x80x98motor programsxe2x80x99 stored in the brain.
It is easy to see why the computer metaphor has predominated the field of motor control and movement coordination for years. Actions must be precisely ordered spatially and temporally, that is, a central motor program elicits instructions to choose the correct muscles, and then to contract and relax them at the right time. In short, the machine metaphor sees the brain as a central programmer and the body as a mere slave.
All the above theories, although fruitful in some areas, don""t say much about the nature of movement coordination and its over all organization. All of us know, in a way, what coordination is, but little is known about how or why it is the way it is.
Getting down to specifics, movement coordination and organization is not a simple task since the human body is a complex system roughly comprising 102 joints, 103 muscles, 103 cell types, and 1014 neurons and neuronal connections. In addition, the human body is multifunctional and behaviorally complex. For example, we can chew and talk at the same time by using the same set of anatomical components. All the above suggests the enormous potential of the human body for movement production and voluntary action. Nevertheless, how can it be that complex motor behavior organizes and coordinates itself as to produce a simple movement? Or, phrasing it in the language of dynamical systems, how can a high-dimensional system (degrees of freedom of the motor system) be almost infinitely compressed as to produce a low dimensional dynamic?
This issue is not trivial what so ever, since a breakdown in movement coordination and its overall organization is an indicator of several brain disorders such as Parkinson""s disease, Huntington""s chorea, etc. In the field of learning difficulties, a breakdown in movement coordination correlates with an impairment of cognitive perceptual tasking in people considered normal, leading to a spectrum of learning deficits such as: Dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc.
The scenery in the physiology field changed radically when the eminent Soviet physiologist Nikolai A. Bernstein (1896-1966) proposed an early solution to these problems (See, Bernstein, N. A., xe2x80x9cThe Coordination and Regulation of Movements,xe2x80x9d Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1967). Bernstein showed that human movements are so intrinsically variable and posses such an unlimited degree of freedom, that finding a single formula explaining movement behavior from efferent impulses alone is inevitably doomed to failure.
In Bernstein""s own words xe2x80x9cit is a most important fact that the invariant motor task is fulfilled not by a constant, fixed set, but by a varying set of movements, which lead to the constant, invariant effectxe2x80x9d and this applies to simple and complex behavior alike. Motor variability according to Bernstein is not accidental, but essential, for the normal course of an active movement and for its successful accomplishment.
Bernstein""s great insight was that of defining the problem of coordinated action as a complication in mastering the many redundant degrees of freedom in a movement; that is, of reducing to a minimum the number of independent variables to control. How do we take a multivariable system and control it with just one or few parameters?
Bernstein proposed to solve the above problem by treating each individual variable in the chain of producing a movement as if organized into larger groupings called linkages or xe2x80x9csynergiesxe2x80x9d.
Bernstein""s hypothesis on motor coordination was not mechanistic or hard-wired (brain as hard-ware) anatomical units; rather, synergies were proposed to be functional units, flexibly and temporally assembled in a task-specific fashion.
Since Bernstein""s contribution to motor control, the concept conveyed in the term xe2x80x9csynergyxe2x80x9d has been further developed by Hermann Haken in the late sixties in the specific area of xe2x80x9cSynergeticsxe2x80x9d, a branch of physics dealing with dynamical systems (non-linear phenomena). Synergetics describes an entire interdisciplinary field, (e.g., laser, chemical reactions, and fluid dynamics) dealing with pattern-formation spontaneously (self-organization) arising from cooperative phenomena that are far from equilibrium.
The key point in here is that the field of synergetics provides the theoretical and mathematical basis for establishing neuromotor organization through which coordinative modes (the pattern formation of movement) spontaneously arise, stabilize and change.
Perceptual motor coordination is today being considered as a window into biological and behavioral self-organization, thanks to the work and original experiments of Scott Kelso, in rhythmical behavior (bimanual phase transition paradigm). Kelso shed light on Bernstein""s claims on movement variability as being the basis for the self-organization of simple and complex motor coordination alike, and in Kelso""s own words: The fact that humans can stably produce, without a lot of learning, only two simple coordination patterns between the hands (parallel and antiparallel finger movements) remains for me an absolute amazing fact. A complex system of muscles, tendons, and joints interacting with a much more complex system composed of literally billons of neurons appears to behave like a pair of couple oscillators. A truly synergic effect!xe2x80x2 Kelso further reports that these patterns of motor coordination are far from being accidental, xe2x80x98even skilled musicians and people who have had the two halves of their brain surgically separated to control epileptic seizures are still strongly attracted to these two basic patternsxe2x80x99 (See, Tuller, B. and Kelso, J. A. S., xe2x80x9cEnvironmentally Specified Patterns of Movement Coordination in Normal and Split-Brain Subjects,xe2x80x9d Experimental Brain Research, vol. 74, 1989).
The point that Kelso is making in here is that biological systems have an acuity for coordinating movement in particular timing patterns. (The present invention extensively modifies and deviates from the idea of synergy as described by Bernstein and Kelso.)
In the self-organized motoric pattern dynamics, cognitive intentionality is viewed as an integral part of the overall orchestration of the organism, that is, the organism""s motor-intention potential is constrained by the organism""s existing visceral organization. Such visceral-cognitive close relationship is not philosophical, but much to the contrary, recent studies in goal directedness suggest that there is brain activity prior to any overt movement.
A neuroanatomical structure in the brain, the xe2x80x98SMAxe2x80x99, determines the right moment to start the voluntary act as well as the sub cortical structures such as the cerebellum and basal ganglia (See, Deecke, L. et al., xe2x80x9cDistribution of Readiness Potential, Premotion Positivity and Motor Potential of the Human Cerebral Cortex Preceding Voluntary Finger Movements,xe2x80x9d Experimental Brain Research, vol. 7, pp. 158-168, 1969; and Allen G. and Tsukahara, N. xe2x80x9cCerebrocerebellar Communication Systems,xe2x80x9d Physiological Reviews, vol. 54, pp. 957-1006, 1974).
Furthermore, intending the switching of motor activity from a less stable to a more stable pattern should be easier and quicker than the vice versa. Apparently, voluntary acts (intention) can change the dynamical stability of motor patterns. Indeed, experimental results have confirmed the latter (See, Kelso, J. A. S. et al. xe2x80x9cDynamics Governs Switching Among Patterns of Coordination in Biological Movement,xe2x80x9d Physics Letters, A, vol. 134, pp. 8-12, 1988; Scholz, J. P., and Kelso, J. A. S., xe2x80x9cIntentional Switching Between Patterns of Bimanual Coordination is Dependent on the Intrinsic Dynamics of the Patterns,xe2x80x9d Journal of Motor Behavior, vol. 22, pp. 124-198, 1990, and Schoner G. and Kelso, J. A. S., xe2x80x9cA dynamic Pattern Theory of Behavioral Change,xe2x80x9d Journal of Theoretical Biological, vol. 135, pp. 501-525, 1988). In short, planning and execution seem to be but two aspects of a single act.
Moreover, from inside the visceral habitat (brain and Autonomic Nervous System), neural activity antecedes the intended action (decision making). Moreover, they prepare physiological mechanisms in the organism (i.e. cardiovascular activity) well in advance, in order to ensure a successful execution of the intended motoric action (See, Bechara, A. et al., xe2x80x9cDeciding Advantageously Before Knowing the Advantageous Strategy,xe2x80x9d Science, vol. 275, pp. 1293-1295, 1997); Collet, C. et al., xe2x80x9cAutonomic Responses Correlate to Motor Anticipation, Behavioral ,xe2x80x9d Brain Research, vol. 63, pp. 71-79, 1994; Astley, C. et al, xe2x80x9cIntegrating Behavior and Cardiovascular Responses: The Code,xe2x80x9d American Physiological Society, 1991; and Engel B. et al., xe2x80x9cCardiovascular Responses as Behavior,xe2x80x9d Circulation, 83 [Suppl II]: II-9-II-13, 1991).
Furthermore, it has been found that electro-cortical activity (event related potentials) covary with cardiovascular activity indicating the existence of precise periods during the cardiac cycle when perceptions and the impact of stimulation are optimal (See, Walker, B. B and Sandman, C. A., xe2x80x9cPhysiological Response Patterns in Ulcer Patients: Phasic and Tonic Components of the Electrograstrogram,xe2x80x9d Psychophysiology, vol. 14, pp. 393-400, 1977; Sandman, C. A. et al., xe2x80x9cInfluence of Afferent Cardiovascular Feedback on Behavior and the Cortical Evoked Potential,xe2x80x9d Perspectives in Cardiovascular Sychophysiology, ed: J. T. Caciopppo and R. E. Petty, Guilford Press, 1982; Sandman, C. A., xe2x80x9cAugmentation of the Auditory Even Related Potential of the Brain During Diastole,xe2x80x9d International Journal of Psychophysiology, vol. 2, pp. 111-119, 1984; and Sandman, C. A., xe2x80x9cCirculation as Consciousness,xe2x80x9d The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 9:2, 1986).
Yet, another and most crucial fact is the synergic correlation existing between locomotion patterns (movement patterns) in horses (and other quadrupeds as well as humans bipeds) and their respective physiological activity habitats, namely, if the horse is allowed to locomote free, the horse will select speeds, which show a minimum of oxygen consumption per unit distance traveled (See, Hoyt, D. F. and Taylor, C. R., xe2x80x9cGait and Energetics of Locomotion in Horses,xe2x80x9d Nature, vol. 292, pp. 239-240, 1981). Horses employ a restricted range of speeds in any given gait, that is, in locomotion (running) the horse uses a speed that corresponds to minimum energy expenditure.
Furthermore, horses and human bipeds when they move normally avoid potentially unstable regions; they select only a discrete set of speeds from a broad range available. In fact, just the ones that minimize energy. As in quadrupeds and human bipeds, the scope and teachings of this invention promote the implementation of synergic timed correlated movements, with physiological activity functions, as to reduce energy dissipation, or consequently, maximize metabolic efficiency during sensory motor performance.
Learning is commonly understood as the process of acquiring skill. It involves a change of behavior through practice or experiences, namely, the organism""s ability to escape its limited built-in behavioral repertoire.
The process of learning has been found to be highly correlated with: (a) Normal ontological realization of self-organization in motor movement coordination, such as: limb movements, eye movements, articulation of vocal cords (speech), lips, tongue, jaw, facial movements, etc.; and (b) attainment of a normal postural balance and a propioceptive sense by the organism.
As substantiating point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cbxe2x80x9d, there is an extensive literature in the field of learning difficulties/disabilities that directly links a poor early sensory-motor realization as being the basis or effective cause for a much later learning spectrum deficit in the child. Particularly, learning deficits such as Dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD and Dyslexia have been associated to the xe2x80x98cerebellumxe2x80x99.
The cerebellum is involved in the control of independent limb movements and especially in rapid, skilled movements. Damage to different parts of the cerebellum can lead to different symptoms in humans, ranging from disturbances in posture and balance, to limb rigidity, loss of muscle tone, lack of co-ordination and impairment of rapid pre-planned, automatic movements.
Furthermore, evidence of the role-played by the cerebellum in learning and motor skills can be seen in Ito, M., xe2x80x9cThe Cerebellum and Neural Control,xe2x80x9d New York: Raven Press, 1984; Ito, M., xe2x80x9cA New Physiological Concept on Cerebellum,xe2x80x9d Revue Neurologique, Paris, vol. 146, pp. 564-569; Jenkins, I. H. et al., xe2x80x9cMotor Sequence Learningxe2x80x94A Study with Positron Emission Tomography,xe2x80x9d Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 14, pp. 3775-3790, 1994; and Krupa, D. J. et al., xe2x80x9cLocalization of Memory Trace in the Mammalian Brain,xe2x80x9d Science, vol. 260, pp. 989-991, 1993. In short, the role of the cerebellum in learning deficits has lead into the postulation of the xe2x80x98Cerebellar Deficit Hypothesisxe2x80x99 or CDH.
Generally speaking, the making of a direct link between deficits in motor-coordination and learning disabilities, brings us first to consider the developmental condition named xe2x80x98Dyspraxiaxe2x80x99. Dyspraxia can be defined as an impairment or immaturity in the organization of movement. Associated with this there may be problems of language, perception and thought. Developmental Dyspraxia is the term used to describe youngsters and adults who have coordination difficulties but who also, in the majority of cases, show significant perceptual problems. Developmental Dyspraxia affects between two to five per cent of the population with a ratio of four boys to one girl (See, Portwood, M., xe2x80x9cUnderstanding Developmental Dyspraxia,xe2x80x9d London: David Fulton Publishers, 2000).
Furthermore, Dyspraxia is a developmental condition and the comorbidity with autistic spectrum disorders, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder is high. M. Portwood suggests that such comorbidity is probably between forty (40) percent and forty-five (45) percent (See, Portwood, M., xe2x80x9cDevelopmental Dyspraxiaxe2x80x94Identification and Intervention,xe2x80x9d London: David Fulton Publishers, 1999). Moreover, associated disorders with Deficit Coordination Disorders (DCD) may include delays in other non-motor milestones (See, Portwood, M 2000). Connected disorders may include Phonological Disorders, Expressive Language Disorder, and mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorders. Prevalence of DCD has been estimated to be as high as six (6) percent for children in the age range of 5-11 years (See, Portwood, M. 1999 and 2000).
Turning now to the particular case where a lack in motor-organization impairs perception while reading, writing and spelling, brings us to focus in xe2x80x98Dyslexiaxe2x80x99. Dyslexia can be defined as a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by deficits at biological, cognitive and behavioral levels, localized mainly, but not only, in phonological and reading processes. For this complex syndrome, affecting around five (5) percent of the population, no practical and effective remediation has yet been found.
Dyslexia (which can be translated as xe2x80x9cdifficulty with wordsxe2x80x9d) is commonly understood as a childhood difficulty in the acquisition of reading, spelling and writing skills, basic literacy problems often extended into adulthood. Experimental research has revealed deficits in tasks that have no linguistic/phonological components. A common feature of these components is that they involve either the coordination of visual and motor component (hand-eye or eye movement coordination) or the combination of sequences of their movements or processes.
Regarding motor performance, dyslexics have shown to have difficulty with static and dynamic balance, manual dexterity, ball skills, gross and fine motor control and production of simultaneous movements. They may also show a deficit in the motor skills required in speed of tapping, head-toe placement and rapid successive finger opposition. It has been estimated that approximately fifty (50) percent of sampled dyslexics presented visual-motor deficits that could be long-term and hereditable.
In particular, sensory motorxe2x80x94balance related problems impairing learning, such as the ability to read (Dyslexia) have been recently intensively studied by A. J. Fawcett and R. I. Nicolson (See, Fawcett, A. J. and Nicolson, R. I., xe2x80x9cPersistent Deficits in Motor Skill for Children with Dyslexia,xe2x80x9d Journal of Motor Behavior, vol. 27, pp. 235-240, 1995; Fawcett, A. J., et al., xe2x80x9cImpaired Performance of Children with Dyslexia on a Range of Cerebellar Tasks,xe2x80x9d Annals of Dyslexia, vol. 46, pp. 259-283, 1996; and by Fawcett, A. J. and Nicolson, R. I., xe2x80x9cPerformance of Dyslexic Children on Cerebellar and Cognitive Tests,xe2x80x9d Journal of Motor Behavior, vol. 31, pp. 68-78, 1999). Their conclusion was that in Dyslexic children some of the most notable results were the exceptionally poor performance in postural stability, muscle tone, limb shake and overall weakness in complex voluntary movement execution.
Another active line of research basically linking impaired sensory motor coordination of the eye (the oculomotor system) and the cerebellum with the inability to read in dyslexic children, is related to the xe2x80x98magnocellular systemxe2x80x99. The magnocellular system consists of retinal ganglion cells (about 10%) that signal the timing of visual events, not their form. Hence they are important for detecting visual motion. The dorsal pathway is an output visual stream processing that passes via the middle temporal motion area to the posterior parietal cortex. It is dominated by magnocellular input. Since these signals provide information about the timing of visual events and of the motion of visual targets, the dorsal system is important for the guidance of both eye and limb movement (See, Milner, A. D. and Goodale, M. A., xe2x80x9cThe Visual Brain in Action,xe2x80x9d Oxford University Press, 1995). Via the cerebellum, the magnocellular system is crucial for controlling eye movement during reading, and particularly for the rapid motion feedback that prevents the eyes slipping off their fixation on a word (See, Stein J. F. and Glickstein M., xe2x80x9cThe Role of the Cerebellum in the Visual Guidance of Movement,xe2x80x9d Physiological Reviews, vol. 72, pp. 967-1018, 1992).
Yet another hypothesis underlying developmental dyslexia has to do with magnocellular neuronal abnormal development in the brain (See, Stein, J. F. and Talcott, J. B., xe2x80x9cThe Magnocellular Theory of Dyslexia,xe2x80x9d Dyslexia, vol. 5, pp. 59-78, 1999). This magnocellular hypothesis is based on evidence that dyslexics have lower sensitivity for transient stimuli either in the visual or in the auditory system. In other words, Dyslexic children show a lower sensitivity to xe2x80x98temporal processingxe2x80x99 of information. We can see that a lack of self-organization in sensory motor movements goes together with an impairment in the timing perception of stimuli, leading to confusion in signal discrimination.
According to the present invention, central to the synergetic approach to movements are: (1) relative timing information among motor components in the process of motor coordination; (2) the lack of an effective cause, program or code responsible for the emerging motor pattern; and (3) spontaneous pattern formation or xe2x80x9cself organizationxe2x80x9d analogous in Bernstein""s approach to the role played by movement coordination as the basis of the organization of the control of the motor apparatus.
This invention is directed towards reinforcing the structural-temporal coupling between movements and physiological components. More specifically, one main characteristic of the present invention is to provide technological means to: 1) time correlate movements with specific target organs and/or physiological systems within the viscera (e.g. heart, lungs, brain, hormonal, etc); 2) time-correlate the movements with a particular phase or phases within the target organ cycle (e.g. systolic, diastolic, inhalation, exhalation, and brain electrocortical waves) and/or physiological systems within the viscera; and 3) introduce a selective fluctuation (instability) in the time correlation within and without the (variable) temporal frame of the preselected phase(s) of the particular chosen target organ cycle and/or physiological system within the viscera. In this invention, more than one target organ and/or physiological system could participate in the correlation.
In fact, new scientific developments, as well as experimental research carried out mainly in the last seventy (70) years most of which not included in prior art, suggest that by means of the many forms in which this invention can be implemented, today""s natural synergic levels of the human organism via movements in relative coordination with cyclical physiological activities may be increased, and therefore the triggering of self-organization among biological functions may have a higher probability of occurrence.
The general scope and aspect of the teachings of this invention are consistent with many findings in a number of inter-correlated fields, as previously and further on detailed. One objective of this invention consists in providing the means and methods aiming to optimize, for example, the performance of any kind of physical activity, active or passive, including current sports and practices of physical exercise, by way of promoting synergetic activity between movements and physiological cyclical activity (aided or not by machines) in the entire population, regardless of age, sex and health condition.
Another feature of the invention and based on the above data lies in its aim for the expedition of new skill acquisition, namely, learning, by establishing a synergically correlation among movements and physiological cyclical activity.
Another scope of the teachings and features of this invention is to provide many forms of research tools to investigate and develop new diagnostic and treatment for the broad spectrum of learning difficulties in normal and pathology population alike, where subjects will specially benefit from this novel invention. As discussed above, the root of learning deficits and its correlation to biomechanical problems, may be well compensated and in many cases overcome, by technologically inducing a kind of what can be denominated as self-movements aiming to trigger dormant and/or to promote new neuronal connections in the cerebellum, frontal lobes in the cortex and other zones of the neural network.
Moreover, research in many correlated fields, some of them only sketched above, gives us ground to hypothesize that movements in synergic timed correlation with physiological activity functions, may institute and reinforce neuronal over connectivity, which in turn may extend the phenomena of synergism among physiological functions.